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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Surname Saturday ~ Wells, Ipswich, Massachusetts

WELLS

Ipswich, Massachusetts

There is an article about Thomas Wells in the 1850 issue of
the New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Volume 4, pages 11 and 12, but it is full of errors that
have been corrected in other books written since 1850. Joseph B. Felt’s History of Ipswich also erroneously
states that Deacon Thomas Wells was a physician. In his will he left some “physicke” books to
his son Thomas, but there is no proof he was a physician. This
was error was repeated in James Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary of New England,
1969, Volume IV, page 478. There was a
Dr. Richard Wells in Salem, Massachusetts, very nearby, at this time period. So, you can see how genealogical errors can
spread, even without the use of the internet!

Thomas Wells took the freeman’s oath in Boston in 1637, and
had a house lot granted to him in Ipswich in 1635. His son, Thomas, earned an honorary degree
from Harvard and was ordained as a minister in Kittery, Maine. His son, John, was killed by Indians in
Wells, Maine on 11 April 1677. All of
Thomas Wells’ children are named in his will dated 1666.

The Wells Genealogy:

Generation 1: Deacon Thomas Wells, born 11 December 1605 in
Colchester, Essex, England, died on 26 October 1666 in Salisbury,
Massachusetts; married on 23 July 1639 in Boxtead, Essex, England to Abigail
Warner, daughter of William Warner and Abigail Baker. She was born 2 June 1614 in Boxtead, died 22 July 1671 in Salisbury. They had seven
children, and I am descended of two daughters, and twice descended of Abigail:

1. Nathaniel
Wells m1. Lydia Thurley; m2. Elizabeth
Unknown

2. John Wells m. Sarah Littlefield

3. Elizabeth
Wells (see below)

4. Thomas
Wells, b. 11 January 1647 m. Mary Perkins

5. Hannah
Wells, b. about 1648 m. Richard Simons

6. Lydia
Wells, b. abt 1659 m. John Ropes

7. Abigail
Wells (see below)

Generation
2: Elizabeth Wells, born 31 July 1646 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, died 9 June
1731; married on 6 June 1668 to John Burnham, son of Thomas Burnham and Mary
Lawrence. He was born in 1648 and died
12 January 1704 in Chebacco Parish, Ipswich.

Heather, it isn't in the latest TMG, it's in his first series, Vol. 11, under Massey. Sarah Wells m. John Massey, and it states her parents were Thomas W. and Abigail W. You probably wouldn't catch it, because I have that Massey line.

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About Me

Author of the Nutfield Genealogy blog and occasional genealogy speaker. My family research includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, with a smattering of Nova Scotia. Please contact me if you see your ancestors on this blog. I would love to share information. I am the former secretary of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society, former President of the Londonderry Historical Society, member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Mass. Society of Genealogists, The National Genealogical Society, and the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.